In the past, when an injection was to be given, it was common to swab the affected area both before and after the injection. This is usually done by another than the one making injections, or by the injector laying the hypodermic syringe aside while the antiseptic is being applied with swab held in an entirely separate instrument. The need to lay aside the hypodermic syringe and use a separate instrument such as forceps or the like to apply the antiseptic to the point of injection caused considerably lost time.
When using the hypodermic syringes presently on the market, the physician still has to carry with him when visiting his patients, a bottle of antiseptic liquid such as ether, alcohol or the like as well as a box of absorbent material such as cotton. Furthermore, every time an injection has to be made, he has to go through several motions in order to sterilize the skin through which the injection is to be made. All these operations are time consuming and this is rather important, particularly for the physician whose schedule is usually very heavy. Also, it may happen from time to time that the physician runs out of either the antiseptic liquid or the absorbent cotton or both, and on such occasions none may be available on site. It was to overcome these and other disadvantages that the present invention was evolved.